1. Field of the Inention
The present invention relates to a portable information terminal such as a cellular phone set which has a folding type structure and information recording function and, more particularly, to an improvement in information recording control.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, as the structures of portable information terminals, especially cellular phone sets of straight type structures, folding type structures, and the like have been used. Among these cellular phone sets, folding structure type cellular phone sets have been popularized and risen in demand because they can be folded compact. In addition, recently, new folding portable information terminals each having two units such as upper and lower units openably and pivotally coupled to each other have been proposed as in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-30226, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-215218, or Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-303959 by the present inventors (“Folding portable Information Terminal” filed Sep. 28, 2001).
Some portable information terminals have a function of recording information such as voice information and image information. For example, there have proposed many portable information terminals designed to improve convenience by recording received information during voice communication and recording information as a memo during a standby period.
In addition, a portable information terminal which has a camera section to record sensed image information or moving image information and transmit it has been widely known. Apparatuses of this type are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-257460 (“Portable Videophone Apparatus”), Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-275094 (“Information Communication Apparatus”), and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-320463 (“Portable Terminal Apparatus”).
In order to use a portable information terminal having a camera section as a videophone which senses a user himself/herself, a camera opening portion is located on a surface in the same direction as that of the surface on which an image monitoring display unit is disposed. In order to use this terminal to take a picture of the surroundings of the user, a camera opening portion is located on a surface opposite to the surface on which the image monitoring display unit is disposed. For this purpose, each of the portable information terminals described above is designed to change the relative posture of the camera opening portion and monitoring display unit so as to allow the use of the terminal as a videophone or to take a picture of the surroundings of the user. The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-257460 has a camera section and display section designed to be pivotal about a common shaft. The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-275094 has a pivot mechanism between an image sensing section and a main body portion which displays images. The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-320463 is designed such that a lid portion having a display unit is made foldable with respect to a housing body and rotatably and pivotally mounted thereon.
In order to use the information recording function of a conventional portable information terminal, however, the user must perform a series of operations by using a predetermined operating section. This applies to the above new folding portable information terminal having the upper and lower units openably and pivotally coupled to each other. The operation in this case is cumbersome for the user. In addition, it is difficult to perform this operation during voice communication. Demand has therefore arisen for an improvement in the usability of the information recording function.